YAY-Costa Rica

Hola!
I received an email today before I got home from class that said that my second reference to study abroad in Costa Rica could not be found, and I was freaking out.....

Hello Miss Patton,
Thank you for your patience as the application process comes to a close. I believe that we had briefly spoken in Gilbert Hall about your application. You have presented a strong application and it was on that basis that I spoke to you about your position in the program. While that is still the case, upon review of your files there is 1 reference that I do not have and therefore must delay my decision until that is clarified. Can you tell me the names of the 2 references that you submitted and if they were enclosed with the full application or mailed separately. I apologize for the delay and this misunderstanding but I believe that the second reference is an important way of rounding out the assessment of the applicant.

I await your response,

Lesley Feracho


ok, so that was scary. But before I replied, I read a second email that she had sent before I got home from class as well...

Hello Meghan,
  The misunderstanding on my part has been
cleared up and your file is complete.  I would
like to offer you congratulations on your acceptance to the
program in Costa Rica for the summer of 2006.
You will shortly receive an acceptance letter in the mail.
This will later be followed up by an information
packet and the date of the first meeting which will be
in approximately 1 1/2 weeks since the official acceptace
process has  now ended.
  I look forward to meeting you and to our trip
this summer which promises to be an exciting time.
Lesley Feracho

YAYUH!! Talk about excited. But when I think about it,...I just feel apprehensive(?)....I don't know if that is really an accurate way to describe it. It's just tough to think of being away for that long with SO LITTLE contact. I don't see my nephew or niece often besides in the summer and at Christmas, so I am giving that up this summer. I also don't go to school with Tom, and that's hard enough just seeing him on the weekends. But doing a Maymester and study abroad....I'll basically not see him but a few days from May 15-July 23 or so. That stinks. And it's hard to think about. And I also don't see my family or other friends from home or Tom's family or anyone as much during the year because of the same reasons-they don't go to school here. It's just not easy to think about not seeing them. BUT I don't think it would be easy to be at home thinking, "I just gave up my chance to travel to a Spanish speaking country and take advantage of that. I just gave up my last chance to study abroad. I just secured myself an extra month at least of school till I graduate because of not getting classes done this summer." All of my relationships are going to survive the distance. I know that, and I am trusting God to handle it all. Así , estoy muy feliz estudiar en Costa Rica!

Ok. So this week....I have a Spanish midterm on Friday, and Theta Xi has their formal in Savannah this weekend. =) I am really excited about it (NOT the midterm, but the formal)! The midterm is going to be HARD for me, and though I am excited about the formal, I am disappointed because I have a Spanish Oral exam on Monday...and it's in front of the whole class over really detailed stuff and with randomly assigned partners. AAAAAUUUGH!!! I hope I don't fail. I am going to be SO nervous. Please pray for me! A good thing is that Sophe, my grand lil sis is going to go to formal also, and I don't get to spend enough time with her so this is great. Another awesome thing about it is that she is a Spanish major who happens to be taking the same professor for the same course this semester so we can practice over the trip for the oral exam. Tom needs to get better before the formal trip too....pray for him. He has bronchitus and a sinus infection-NOT fun. Sophe was sick too, so...ya know-prayers all around.

If you are looking for a mission for God to support right now, I have one. My lil sis, Jessica, is actually my small group leader for Campus Outreach. Every year, CO does Cross Cultural Project-they go to a foreign country and work at a campus to spread the gospel and to train Christians of that country to witness to their countrymen. Well, you have to be asked to go on this trip, you can't just do it. And Jessica was selected. She's been praying about it and decided to do it. Now she is raising money to support her trip-it's $5,000. Not cheap, but can you put a price on spreading salvation to others??? So, if you can support her, please contact me at mcp@uga.edu or call me if you have my # because God is going to have to work in a big way through others to make this trip a reality. She can't just dish out the money herself because she doesn't have that much and can't make it by May. But if God has blessed you, pray to see if He is leading you to give some of that back to Him in this way. It would be so wonderful!

Ok...I gotta go to bed. I have to drive to Covington tomorrow to pick up my car and give mom hers back because she let me borrow it. Mine wasn't starting, so it had to be fixed.
Love,
Meghan